Page 12 of Tangled Up With You

“I’d say,” I mumbled.

“You know, while you were talking about everything that went down between you and that cowboy, I got an idea.”

I arched a brow in question and sipped some of my iced tea through the straw in my glass. “Oh? And what’s that?”

“I think you should take me as a date to the wedding.”

I quickly proceeded to choke on the drink I’d just taken. It took several seconds of hacking and wheezing before I could finally breathe again, and Tanner sat there, patiently waiting for me to get my shit together. I hadn’t even brought up that my friends had been pressuring me to invite him as my date. He’d come up with the idea all on his own.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Why not?” He braced his forearms on the table and leaned forward, his face growing serious. “Look, I know nothing’s going to happen here,” he said, waving a long, thick finger in the space between us. “You made it perfectly clear your head is somewhere else, but I’m a fun guy, and I’mgreatat weddings.”

I let out a snort and shook my head with humor. “How can someone be great at weddings?”

He brushed off my question and kept going. “At the very least, you’ll have someone to dance with to all the slow songs so you don’t have to sit at the table by yourself.” Okay, he might have a point there. “And at worst, I can help you make the cowboy green with envy.”

I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth. “I don’t know,” I started hesitantly.

“If you’re worried about using me, don’t be. I offered myself up this time.”

“And I appreciate that, Tanner. I really do,” I said, reaching across the table to place my hand on top of his. “But I’m supposed to be moving on, not trying to make an asshole who doesn’t even deserve a moment of my time jealous. Not that I’m convinced he would be.” Despite what he said earlier, I wasn’t sure I bought that Connor got jealous over my interaction with another man. It didn’t make sense. He’d clearly been banging his way from rodeo to rodeo after running out of my bed, so why would he be jealous?

“Then we’re back to reason number one. You’re obviously stressed about having to be in his company for an extended period of time, and it’s not like I have anything else to do that night.”

I gave him a flat look. “Thanks a lot,” I deadpanned.

One corner of his mouth worked its way up in a smirk. “Let me help. I’ll make sure you have fun.”

I sat back in my booth, giving myself a few moments to mull over everything he’d just offered. “Okay, I’m in.”

His eyes brightened. “Really?”

“Yeah. We’ll go and have a good time. But you have to give me your word you won’t clear the buffet out all by yourself.”

“Deal. This is gonna be a lot of fun, Ivy. I promise.”

Surprisingly, I was actually starting to believe him.

Chapter Seven

Connor

“Dude, what’s going on with you?”

I blinked back into the present to find Zach staring at me with a curious look on his face. I’d been so focused on staring at Ivy across the front of the small chapel where my friend and Rae would be exchanging vows tomorrow that I’d completely zoned out mid-sentence of whatever he’d been saying. I couldn’t help myself. Any time she was in the room, I couldn’t keep from tracking her every move like a heat-seeking missile. When she was close, she was the only thing I was aware of.

As hard as it was, I pulled my attention from the woman I’d been trying to talk to all damn week and looked over to Zach. “What?”

Zach’s eye narrowed as he watched me closely. “You didn’t hear a damn thing I said, did you?”

I let out a huff of frustration and reached up to pinch the bridge of my nose. “Clearly I didn’t, so instead of giving me shit about it, why don’t you say it again.”

“I asked what’s going on with you. You’ve been acting weird all week.”

I cleared my throat, tugging at the collar of my button-down. Rae understood she was dealing with a bunch of cowboys, so she didn’t require us to wear suits today since we’d all be stuck in tuxes for the wedding, but she did ask that we at least wear a decent pair of jeans and a nice shirt. Now my throat was starting to feel dry and I felt like the damn thing was choking me. And not the fun, sexy kind of choking either.

“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.” I didn’t know why the hell I decided to lie. It was clear by the look on his face he knew I was full of shit.

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